LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD, THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE, THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION AND THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 'Wonderful' Max Porter 'Unmissable' Olga Tokarczuk 'Startlingly original' Times Book of the Year There is a space between life and death: it's called waxworks. Born in Alsace in 1761, the diminutive Marie Grosholtz is quickly nicknamed 'Little'. Orphaned at the age of six, she finds employment in the household of reclusive anatomist Dr Curtius. Soon the eccentric doctor takes an interest in his odd companion, and he begins to instruct her in the fine art of wax modelling, changing the course of her life. From the gutters of pre-revolutionary France to the luxury of the Palace of Versailles, from clutching the still-warm heads of the Terror to finding something very like love, Little traces the improbable fortunes of a blood-stained crumb of a thing who went on to be the renowned Madame Tussaud. MORE PRAISE FOR LITTLE: 'Visceral, vivid and moving' GUARDIAN 'A remarkable achievement' SUNDAY TIMES'Don't miss eccentric charmer' MARGARET ATWOOD 'Absolutely brilliant' SUSAN HILL 'Mesmerising' IRISH INDEPENDENT 'A tale as moving as it is macabre' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Darkly fascinating' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'Cinematic in scope' TLS 'Poignant and absorbing' LITERARY REVIEW 'Clever and intriguing' DAILY MAIL 'Rich in deadpan wit and surgically precise observation' A. L. KENNEDY 'Wonderfully weird' CELESTE NG

"Rich and engrossing, there is an extraordinary potency to Carey's material . . . A visceral, vivid and moving novel" - Guardian

"One of the most original historical novels of the year . . . Inspired, vivid and macabre, Little is a remarkable achievement'" - Sunday Times Book of the Year

"Startlingly original . . . [Carey] finds and treasures the ironies and macabre eccentricities of Tussaud's world. The pages are also enriched by his beautiful and haunting illustrations" - Times Book of the Year

"Edward Carey is one of the strangest writers we are privileged to have in this country" - Observer

"Marie's story is fascinating in itself, but Carey's talent makes her journey a thing of wonder" - New York Times

"Uniquely inventive . . . It is variously nightmarish, dreamy, sensual, emotionally affecting and very funny" - Big Issue Book of the Year

"A gripping novel of shy wit and darkly humorous occurrences . . . Mesmerising in its virtuosity" - Irish Independent

"Carey creates a quirky, indelible character in Little, sprinkles idiosyncratic drawings throughout and folds his narrative in cunning ways" - BBC Culture

"A tale as moving as it is macabre" - Mail on Sunday

"A darkly fascinating tale packed full of vivid historical detail and quaint, engaging characters" - Sunday Express

"Compelling . . . Carey's story is cinematic in scope and fairy tale-like in its attention to coincidence - and to the fateful cycle of pride and fall" - TLS

"Poignant and absorbing" - Literary Review

"Clever and intriguing" - Daily Mail

"In this gloriously gruesome imagining of the girlhood of Marie Tussaud, mistress of wax, fleas will bite, rats will run and heads will roll and roll and roll . . . I bloody loved it" - Spectator

"A startlingly remarkable flight of historical fancy where fact, fiction, tragedy and Grand Guignol collide" - i Newspaper

"Carey's flair for macabre whimsy has drawn comparisons to Tim Burton - but while death haunts this story, Little is a novel that teems with life" - Time

"Written with relentless energy, flair and finesse" - The Herald

"Full of rich detail and beautiful illustrations . . . A rare treat that will stay with you long after you turn the final page" - Heat

"By turns witty, ghoulish and poignant - a historical novel unlike any other'" - BBC History Magazine

"Strange and delightful'" - Vanity Fair

"I marvel at the achievement of this book . . . Little isn't about history; it's about humans, and bodies, and art, and loneliness, and it's deeply, painfully sad. I could talk about it forever" - NPR

"Dark and delightful, playful and peculiar, Little is simply magnetic: Carey's words seem to dance on the page. Little is big in many ways: creativity, energy, concept and character. Leave plenty of room in your heart for this one; you'll need it" - Shelf Awareness

"With an irresistible cast of grotesques and a delicious lightness of touch, Little delivers a great and peculiar vision of Paris crashing over the rapids" - Strong Words Magazine

"A perfectly weaved story of a woman who has captured the imagination of many, but has been written about by few" - Culture Trip

"This historical novel about the wax-sculptor who would become the world-renowned Madame Tussaud looks uncannily like a real-life classic" - Washington Post

"The kind of book you want to shove into the hands of all your friends, just so you have someone to gush about it with" - Buzzfeed

"Little is quirky, eccentric, offbeat, Gothic and all the other descriptives fondly applied to Carey's peculiarly elegant prose" - Dallas Morning News

"Gruesomely entertaining . . . This rousing, macabre novel showcases a sensibility that falls somewhere between Les Misérables and the works of Edward Gorey" - Barnes & Noble

"There is nothing ordinary about this book. Carey, with sumptuous turns of phrase, fashions a fantastical world that churns with vitality . . . at once surreal and full of heart" - Publishers Weekly

"Carey channels the ghosts of Dickens, Fielding, and the Brothers Grimm to tell Marie's tale . . . A quirky, compelling story that deepens into a meditation on mortality and art" - Kirkus Reviews

"A wonderfully weird exploration of spectacles, from wax heads to revolutions, that will delight lovers of the macabre" - BookPage

"Lavishly illustrated with strange and compelling drawings, Little is a boldly original reimagining of the life of Madame Tussaud" - Library Journal

"An immensely creative epic . . . The unique perspective, witty narrative voice, and clever illustrations make for an irresistible read" - Booklist